Saranac Lake village set to auction Neil Street property

October 11, 2012

SARANAC LAKE - Village officials haven't had any luck trying to sell a small, vacant parcel of village-owned land on Neil Street.

Now they're planning to auction it off to the highest bidder on the front steps of the Harrietstown Town Hall.

The village Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to set the date for the auction, which will take place at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23.

Mayor Clyde Rabideau will be the auctioneer. He joked at Tuesday's meeting that he wanted to do it because he's been "religiously, night after night," watching the television show "Storage Wars." The reality program on the A&E network follows professional buyers in California who purchase the auctioned off contents of repossessed storage units.

The one-tenth-of-an-acre parcel at 106 Neil St. used to have an abandoned trailer home that the village condemned. Calling it an eyesore and a potential hazard, the village seized title to the property in 2009 and had the trailer removed and demolished.

The property was put up for sale the following year at a minimum bid price of $10,000, but there was little to no interest at that time.

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The village was negotiating earlier this year with someone who was interested in the property, but those talks broke off after the village wasn't able to guarantee that it could provide the buyer with a variance.

Village officials set the parameters of the auction at Tuesday's meeting, including a minimum bid of $1,000. Sealed bids will also also be accepted prior to the date of the auction.

The highest bidder will have to pay $1,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price up front and close on the property within 30 days.